


Misdirection

by Rhapsody0607



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Asexual Character, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Original Character(s), Possible Future Chapters, Trans Female Character, maybe? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:36:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24447442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhapsody0607/pseuds/Rhapsody0607
Summary: Ryleigh is a pale skinned, blonde haired human woman who enjoys making friends in unusual ways. Rukiya is a dark skinned half elf woman with brown curly hair and warm brown eyes who is intrigued by Ryleigh's antics. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Kudos: 3
Collections: Queertical Role





	Misdirection

“Bartender!” Ryleigh yells, lifting her hand and waving it in the general direction of the bar. “I need a deck of cards!”

It only takes a moment before one appears. It sails over a few tables before landing on their own and narrowly avoids landing in the pitcher. Ryleigh gives the bartender — a man with a mustache that takes up most of his face — a thumbs-up, then takes the deck and holds it up, her expression suddenly turning serious as she stares across the table.

“Rukiya, this is a crucial moment in what could be a beautiful friendship, okay?”

Rukiya presses her smile into a thin line. “Mmhmm. Okay.”

“Do you… like magic?”

“Please say no,” Seirixori pleads.

“Please say yes!” Gayle shouts.

“I suppose I’m undecided,” Rukiya begins slowly, the bemusement clear on her face. “It’s never made an impression one way or the other.”

Ryleigh smiles, sliding the cards out of their package and flipping them around with practiced ease. It’s a little entrancing to watch, Ryleigh’s well aware, and maybe she’s spent an embarrassing number of hours watching YouTube videos just to make sure of it. Still, it’s hard to feel any regret when Rukiya watches her hands with a glint in her eyes.

“Ryleigh only does this with special people. Well, really anyone she has even a modicum of interest in…” Seirixori whispers, like she’s sharing a secret with Rukiya. 

“It’s so cool though!” Gayle insists. “And this time I’m gonna figure out how she does it.”

“So what d’you say, Rukiya?” Ryleigh splits the deck with one hand, spinning half of it under the other without glancing away from the woman across the table.

“I guess you can try to make up my mind.” She quirks an eyebrow. “One way or another.”

“Sounds like a challenge.”

Rukiya leans forward, nudging the pitcher aside and clearing a space in the middle of the table. She gestures towards the now blank space while the corner of her lip curls into a smirk. “Maybe it is.”

“Good thing I’m not one to back down from one.” Ryleigh winks and places the deck in the center of the table. She cracks her fingers and tilts her head. “You wanna inspect it?”

“I do!” Gayle grabs the cards before Rukiya can even consider it. She and Ryleigh exchange an amused glance as Gayle shuffles through the deck with a look of utter concentration.

Despite herself, Seirixori leans forward as well. “I’ve never had a chance to try to figure it out myself,” she admits, pursing her lips. “I’m sure there’s a simple trick behind it. Gayle, show us.”

Gayle flips the cards around and spreads out the deck. Ryleigh waits another few moments as they all observe the (by all appearances) perfectly normal deck before snatching it out of Gayle’s hand and shuffling it once more.

“Satisfied?”

“Hardly,” Seirixori sniffs, but Rukiya nods, her eyes narrowed slightly as she watches the movement of the cards between Ryleigh’s fingers.

“Alright, then.” Ryleigh spins the deck again, then spreads it out between her hands. “Pick a card.”

“Seriously?” Rukiya lets out a soft snort, clearly having expected something more complex. Ryleigh just quirks her eyebrow and she can see Rukiya concede before she says, “Alright then.”

Rukiya considers the deck carefully, and finally picks one of the cards from the front. She sits back and cups it between her hands to peek. Seirixori and Gayle both lean over, and she tilts it in both of their directions, watching Ryleigh with suspicion. Ryleigh is absentmindedly shuffling the deck once more, her eyes dancing in amusement.

“Got it?” Ryleigh asks with a smile, leaning forward and spreading the deck out once more.

“We’ve got it,” Seirixori says, a little tursely. “And can we please skip the — ”

Gayle hushes her with flapping hands and a loud shushing noise. Seirixori rolls her eyes, but falls silent. Rukiya glances back and forth between the two, then she leans forward, her card extended between two fingers, and starts to slide it between the middle of the deck.

“Oh my god! What’s that?” Ryleigh shouts, eyes going wide.

Several people turn in the bar turn, including Rukiya. Except she realizes what’s going on and snaps her head back to find Ryleigh twisting her neck underneath her card to take a peek.

“Really?” she asks, and moves to draw back her card. Before she can, Ryleigh splits the deck and slaps both halves on either side of it, snagging the card out of Rukiya’s hands as she pulls back.

“What?” Her expression is all innocence.

Rukiya glances at Seirixori and then Gayle, who are watching Ryleigh more closely than ever, and finally just shrugs. “Nothing, nothing. Please continue with this masterful demonstration.”

“Thank you,” Ryleigh says, expression and tone mild as she springs the whole of the deck from one hand to the other. “Now, through magic I’m going to figure out the exact card you had in your hand. But you have to think about it really hard, okay? Envision it in your mind.”

“Alright. I’m envisioning it.”

“You sure?” Ryleigh asks.

“Mmhmm,” Rukiya responds. 

Ryleigh performs another fancy little shuffle, but then, when the moment is just at its peak, she visibly deflates, sighing and closing her hands around the whole of the deck as she leans back in her chair. She shakes her head and looks up, eyes wide and remorseful. 

“You know what? I’ve gotta come clean. Since we’re new friends and everything. Look Rukiya, I totally cheated.”

“You don’t say,” Rukiya says, voice playful.

“Yeah.” Ryleigh sighs dramatically. “I was trying to impress you, so I cheated. I wanted to make sure that your card would come up on top when I did the trick so I…”

She trails off, placing the deck directly on the table and flips over the top card. It’s Rukiya’s, she knows, given the quick quirk of the woman’s eyebrows. But it’s when she flips the next card that she really gets her - the amusement drops from Rukiya’s face and her eyes widen.

Because the next card is her card too.

“... I turned every card into yours,” Ryleigh continues, flipping over one card after the other, each one the exact same Queen of Hearts. “Every. Single. One. I’m such a cheater.”

Rukiya looks up with her mouth slightly open, and Ryleigh’s grin spreads nice and slow as she holds her gaze.

The moment is interrupted by Gayle lunging for the discarded cards, but Ryleigh scoops them back up before she can manage it. Ryleigh’s smile is still present and her mind is still on the woman in front of her.

“Dammit, Ry! Let me see them!” Seirixori shouts, leaning over the table and holding her hand out that Ryleigh might give her the deck.

“Ah, ah, ah,” she says. “The trick is over. Did you figure it out?”

“You know I didn’t!” Gayle pouts.

“ _ Homashoc _ ?” 

Seirixori rolls her eyes again, crossing one arm over the other. “You’re the worst, Ry.”

“You love me,” Ryleigh sing-songs, slipping the deck into her pocket. She glances back over at Rukiya, who seems to have recovered enough to lose her absolutely adorable look of surprise. Not that she can complain given what’s replaced it: a narrowed look of concentration that has Ry reaching for her soda.

“So how did you do it?”

The quiet tone only adds to the appeal of Rukiya’s expression in Ryleigh’s mind.

Still, she holds strong. “Aw, you know what they say about magicians and their tricks.”

“She never tells us,” Gayle pouts. “I ask all the time.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Rukiya’s lower lip catches between her teeth briefly as her smile spreads, and Ryleigh feels her whole heart rattle in her chest. “In the right situation, I think she just might tell me.”

Ryleigh grins, because she doesn’t doubt it. 


End file.
